Committee on Committees and Nominations

This committee shall have general oversight of the committee system of the faculty. It shall regularly review the system and may make recommendations to the faculty or its Senate concerning faculty organization at all levels. It shall monitor the work of the Senate committees and receive and review the monthly and annual reports. It shall recommend the elimination of committees that no longer serve a valuable function. It is authorized directly to constitute on an interim basis such subcommittees, task forces, or study panels as may be requested by faculty committees to help carry out their work, in each case promptly recording through faculty or Senate minutes the membership and charges of such subgroups. Such subgroups which directly concern themselves with issues falling under the jurisdiction of the Vice President of Student Life shall include a substantial number of students to ensure the diverse representation of student interests, with voting status to be determined by this committee.

It shall prepare for action by the faculty or its Senate, slates of nominees for Vice President, Secretary, three Senate designees nominated for membership to the Committee on Nominations and Committees, faculty members to the Board of Trustees committees, and standing committees of the faculty, except where nominations and elections are otherwise explicitly provided for, and also for such ad hoc or other committees as the faculty or its Senate may specify. Upon request from the President of the University, it shall propose faculty names for University bodies s/he is preparing to appoint, in the nature of staff assistance without implying a position of the faculty regarding such bodies.

Except in cases where individuals are elected by the University Faculty Senate, this committee shall fill vacancies in faculty committees for the unexpired terms using the following options: 1.) replacement for the period of the vacated member’s term or 2.) for the period of the vacated member’s term and an additional full term not to exceed three years. Whenever a vacancy occurs in a position which was filled by a Senate election, the replacement will be filled by a special Senate election. The committee is encouraged to solicit, receive, and hear suggestions regarding faculty committees from any member of the University community; adjudicate questions of interpretation of faculty committee functions, including questions of overlap of such functions; help formulate rules of committee operation or procedure upon request; and perform other consultative or supervisory functions that will promote the effectiveness of faculty committees according to their charges.

This committee shall annually canvass the faculty for individual faculty member’s interest in serving on committees, and may employ the members of the Senate to conduct the canvass on a personal basis. The willingness of nominees to serve on committees shall be ascertained before their names are submitted for action. The committee in preparing nominations shall have regard for equitable distribution with respect to academic ranks and with respect to disciplines and academic units of the University. The committee will strive for diversity in committee staffing, with special emphasis on assuring diversity in those committees that may handle student or faculty personnel matters. The committee may consult with Deans and Department Chairpersons concerning workloads of faculty members, and may otherwise consult with the President and other appropriate members of the University Community regarding its nominations.

To ensure adequate information-flow between the Faculty Senate and the faculty committees the Committee on Committees and Nominations shall take care that Senators are adequately distributed over the family of committees with appropriate memberships therein. It shall designate one of the faculty appointed to the Committee on Student Life to serve also as a member of the Council on Judicial Affairs. The committee’s nominations shall specify committee chairpersons. This committee shall receive and transmit to the faculty or its Senate the nominations of the duly constituted undergraduate and graduate student governments for student memberships on faculty committees as specified. In the absence of a graduate student government, each Senate committee shall choose its own graduate student member(s) as required, unless otherwise specified. (April 4, 1983)

The committee shall consist of one member who is elected for a two-year term from and by each Unit as defined in the constitution of the Faculty, and three Faculty members-at-large elected for two-year terms by the Faculty Senate. Following this election, the Faculty Senate shall select one of the faculty designees to act as chairperson for a two-year term and who will also serve as a member of the Executive Committee. If feasible, at least one committee member shall be a senator.